Hometown tribute to honored Marine

By The Daily News

Published: Friday, May 3, 2013 at 08:54 PM.

Editor’s note: Staff Sgt. Daniel W. Ridgeway was awarded the Silver Star on April 30 in a ceremony at Goettge Memorial Field House aboard Camp Lejeune. In 2011, Ridgeway was serving with 2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company in support of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan when events cited in the award took place. Ridgeway became the 41st Marine to be awarded the Silver Star for actions in Afghanistan. The following editorial appeared on Monday in his hometown newspaper, the Gadsden Times, a Halifax Media Group newspaper in Alabama.

That’s where Marines are trained to go to war, and to deal with difficult or unexpected situations that arise during combat.

Ridgeway’s training enabled him to do something while deployed in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom that saved the lives of his colleagues and foiled an enemy attack — and is why a Silver Star will be pinned on his chest.

He was leading a security patrol that was trying to clear a suspected enemy weapons site that was full of improvised explosive devices. A team member stepped outside the cleared path and was injured when an IED exploded.

Ridgeway administered first aid to the Marine and then, on his hands and knees, cleared a 100-meter by 100-meter area so a helicopter could land and evacuate the man.

Editor’s note: Staff Sgt. Daniel W. Ridgeway was awarded the Silver Star on April 30 in a ceremony at Goettge Memorial Field House aboard Camp Lejeune. In 2011, Ridgeway was serving with 2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company in support of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan when events cited in the award took place. Ridgeway became the 41st Marine to be awarded the Silver Star for actions in Afghanistan. The following editorial appeared on Monday in his hometown newspaper, the Gadsden Times, a Halifax Media Group newspaper in Alabama.

That’s where Marines are trained to go to war, and to deal with difficult or unexpected situations that arise during combat.

Ridgeway’s training enabled him to do something while deployed in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom that saved the lives of his colleagues and foiled an enemy attack — and is why a Silver Star will be pinned on his chest.

He was leading a security patrol that was trying to clear a suspected enemy weapons site that was full of improvised explosive devices. A team member stepped outside the cleared path and was injured when an IED exploded.

Ridgeway administered first aid to the Marine and then, on his hands and knees, cleared a 100-meter by 100-meter area so a helicopter could land and evacuate the man.

That’s a chunk of real estate for one individual to crawl over — as a point of reference, 100 meters is a bit over 328 feet and a football field is 160 feet wide — complicated by the five IEDs Ridgeway discovered (and disarmed).

Afterward, his squad came under enemy fire and wanted to advance. Ridgeway, however, knowing the enemy liked to use IEDs to draw people into ambushes, detonated some collected explosives and scared them off. While on another patrol about an hour later, he disarmed several more IEDs, including some around a Marine who’d been injured in an explosion.

Ridgeway disarmed 148 IEDs while deployed. He credited his “friend and mentor,” Gunnery Sgt. Ralph Pate (who, sadly, was killed while disarming an IED two weeks before Ridgeway was nominated for this medal), for training him to do that task.

The Silver Star won’t be his first medal — his current list is long — but it’s a big one. It’s the third highest military decoration for valor offered by the U.S. armed forces, topped only by the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service, Navy or Air Force Cross.

The official citation says Ridgeway — who’s now assigned to a Wounded Warrior battalion and whose future in the military is uncertain because of combat injuries — displayed “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy.”

He certainly did. He deserves the place he’ll now hold among Etowah County’s military heroes.